Shibi—the Soul of Qiang Culture

With a long history and splendid culture, the Qiang ethnic group is praised as “the ethnic group above the clouds”. In the Qiang society, there are a group of people with special status—“Shibi”. They work as priests but don’t separate themselves from daily production activities.

An Old Shibi in a Sacrificial Ceremony (Source: http://www.ihchina.cn)

Origin of Shibi

“Shi” refers to “remove; loose; put down”; “Bi” means “metaphor; speech”. The mythologist Yuanke said if such legends as “Yu, a legendary king in ancient China, was born in Western Qiang” and “Yu lived in a Western Qiang place called Shiniu” were supported with some proofs, then Yu might be the first chief and wizard of the Qiang people. Shibi often performs Yu Bu and sings scriptures when conducting religious rituals. “Yu Bu” refers to the dance steps created by Yu for the purpose of communicating with gods.